Chapter 116: The Troubles of a Sharp-Tongued Music Critic

Hao Yifeng had been calling the MusicNet complaint hotline every single day for a week straight. Every time he heard that mechanical female voice reciting, "Your issue has been noted and forwarded to the relevant department; please wait patiently for our processing," he felt the urge to smash his phone.

He had originally planned to feature several tracks by "Jie's Poison" during the prime-time 8:00 PM slot of his show, "New Music Horizon," on the Yangcheng Music Radio station this Friday. Instead, every time he opened the website, he was met with a notice stating that the account had been suspended and suggesting he browse other music. The sight of the page made his blood boil.

With Friday fast approaching and his playlist still undecided, the radio station staff were hounding him. He was losing his patience; he felt deeply unsettled at the prospect of not playing those songs. Driven by this, he called Liu Bin, a high-level executive at MusicNet whom he knew and who had handled his radio contract.

When he had called Liu Bin to press him on the matter previously, Liu had been evasive. This time, however, Liu sounded sullen and told Hao over the phone that the situation was complicated. Sensing that Liu might be willing to talk, Hao suggested they meet that evening.

After work, Hao drove in a rush to a teahouse in downtown Yangcheng to meet Liu.

Even if MusicNet refused to lift the ban, Hao hoped to obtain the contact information for "Jie's Poison" to communicate with him personally. He wanted to convince the artist to send him the music files. Hao was willing to help with promotion and even introduce him to record labels he knew. It was just an idea, but he felt that no one would turn down such an opportunity.

As soon as Liu arrived at the booth and sat down, Hao couldn't help but snap, "Has your MusicNet gone insane? Why ban such a badass musician? This 'Jie's Poison' is destined to be a superstar!" His expression was one of deep dissatisfaction. He hadn't heard those beautiful and extraordinary melodies for days, and lately, they had been echoing in his mind even in his dreams.

Liu called a waiter, ordered a cup of green tea, and asked Hao what he wanted to eat. He didn't rush to explain; the situation couldn't be summed up in a few words anyway.

Hao had no appetite. He had always been blunt and outspoken, and since he and Liu were good friends who occasionally went out for drinks, he snapped, "Your MusicNet is about to go under, and you still have the heart to eat?" His tone was anything but polite.

Knowing Hao’s uninhibited nature—how he would obsess over things he liked and refuse to say a single kind word about things he didn't—Liu laughed. "Do you think the music editors we hire are just sitting around doing nothing?"

Hao rolled his eyes. "Aren't they? Music like this gets no promotion and stays buried at the bottom of the charts. The moment it finally gains some traction, you ban it. Are you trying to run this website into the ground?"

Liu shook his head and replied dryly, "No competition can ever be a hundred percent fair, especially not an original music chart. If we let editors judge music based on their personal tastes for recommendations or contracts, it just opens the door for corruption and rent-seeking. It’s better to leave it to the listeners to decide; at least our website remains neutral in its stance."

"If you're so neutral, why the ban? Don't tell me it's because he was vote-rigging—that's impossible!" Hao scoffed. He knew that outside of copyright issues, only vote-rigging triggered a ban. Copyright wasn't an issue; he had listened to so much music, both domestic and international, that if such outstanding works existed, he would have heard them long ago.

Liu offered a bitter smile. "After your show aired, the listener count on 'Poison's' page suddenly exploded. The editor on duty didn't notice it immediately and processed the takedown and ban. It was indeed a lapse in our work."

"Then why haven't you unbanned him?" Hao was fuming, his face reddening.

Liu, now irritated by Hao's attitude, stiffened and said, "Are you going to listen to me or not? If not, I’m leaving."

Hao thought of his show the next day and how he needed Liu's help, so he lowered his tone. "Fine, Big Brother Liu, you speak. I won't say another word—you can even sew my mouth shut."

Liu chuckled. He considered Hao a good friend; while the man was blunt, he was sincere, talented, and they got along well. He continued patiently, "The day after your show aired, our complaint line was blown up. Seriously, your listeners are something else; some of them even made our operators cry."

Hao opened his mouth to retort but, remembering his promise to keep his mouth shut, he could only offer a smug, self-satisfied look. Some of his listeners shared his sharp-tongued temperament, but they were high-quality people who never used profanity.

Seeing Hao’s arrogant expression, Liu continued, "Sunday was a day off, so the editors didn't have the authority to act. On Monday morning, the first thing we discussed in our meeting was 'Jie's Poison.' You know, we had to take it seriously! The statistics on his page were terrifying. I know your fans are powerful, but the music has to be good, too. Four songs, each with hundreds of thousands of streams—I can't give you the exact figures, but I can tell you how terrifying they are! His earnings in just a few hours were higher than the annual income of all the other authors on our original music chart combined."

Hao was stunned, completely forgetting his promise not to interrupt. "How is that even possible?" He knew that most songs on the original music chart were free, and only the very popular ones dared to charge for downloads, usually just one yuan or one credit.

Liu looked at him calmly. "I didn't believe it at first either, but the money in the account proved it. Of course, this is a trade secret, so don't go telling anyone. It wouldn't matter anyway; you don't have his contact details." Liu laughed heartily, as if he held the upper hand.

Hao sighed, looking miserable. "If that's the case, why are you still banning him?"

Liu sighed. "Do you think we're stupid? Do you think we don't want to make money? Not to mention the constant stream of complaints—you think we don't want to resolve this? That very day, our two editors-in-chief planned a full-scale promotion for his songs. They even had the headline ready: 'A Landmark Musical Epic—Are You Ready to Take This Dose of Poison?'"

"Then why didn't you promote him?" Hao couldn't help but interject again. He really couldn't stop himself.

Liu didn't mind and continued, "A musician like this is destined to be a milestone figure. He handles the lyrics, the composition, and the arrangement all by himself. A talent like that... as editors, what do you think we wanted to do?"

"That’s a stupid question," Hao replied without hesitation. "Sign him, obviously."

Liu nodded. "Exactly. That’s what I thought. We asked for his phone number and called a dozen times that morning, but no one answered. We sat in the conference room waiting for a callback. Someone guessed he was a student and probably in class, and they were right. He answered at noon, but he refused to sign with us!"

Hao felt the loss as well, but he quickly assumed Liu and his team hadn't offered enough. "You can't let a talent like that go! You should agree to whatever terms he wants."

Liu smiled bitterly. "You think I don't know that? The problem is, he's the one setting the terms now. We have to meet his demands before he'll sign. Otherwise, he would have been unbanned already."

Hao knew he shouldn't ask, but he couldn't help himself. "What terms?" He knew Liu wouldn't answer, so he laughed at himself. "I guess getting his contact info from you is impossible then."

Liu took a sip of tea, his throat feeling dry. "For now, yes. We have to wait until the contract is signed before we lift the ban. If he agrees to it then, I can give you his phone number."

Hao felt a wave of profound melancholy. It seemed his plans for tomorrow were completely ruined.